D-FW small businesses welcome delay in health care employer mandate

Bennigan’s chief executive Paul Mangiamele was visiting a franchisee in New York City when he heard the “big news” that the White House was delaying a key provision of the health care law.

Larger employers now have until January 2015 to provide workers with coverage or pay penalties under a one-year reprieve announced late Tuesday.

“My first thought was it’s a good start,” Mangiamele said Wednesday. “I think more people within the administration are realizing what kind of devastation this mandate would do to the small business owners around the country.”

Other employer groups also praised the delay of the so-called employer mandate, which they say would hurt small businesses. Business advocates have been the most vocal opponent of the employer requirement.

Under the Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more full-time workers must provide affordable health insurance or pay a $2,000 fine per employee. The rule was scheduled to take effect in January.

In announcing the delay Tuesday, the White House portrayed it as a common-sense step that would reduce financial and regulatory burdens on small businesses.

Joyce Gaines, a senior consultant at Plano-based Alkali, an insurance broker that specializes in small to midsize businesses, said the delay was a positive development.

“It’ll allow employers to do more planning, to get guidance and be more thoughtful, because in the final analysis, people thought it would be repealed,” Gaines said. “People didn’t get serious about it until way too late. We don’t want people to take reactive, desperate approaches.”

Some employers around the country have said they would cut hours or employees to get around the mandate.

While the delay provides more time, Michael Gomes of Dallas-based BenefitMall said it raises other questions, including the potential impact on other parts of the law. BenefitMall provides payroll and employee benefit products and services.

On Wednesday, Gomes fielded calls and emails from clients and employers. “What happens right now is we’re in a holding pattern,” said Gomes, BenefitMall’s senior vice president of government and carrier relations. “The administration will provide guidance.”

Starwood Motors in Dallas began offering health benefits to its nearly 50 employees at the beginning of the year. The employer mandate, general manager Davis Speight said, was not a factor.

“This was something everyone was asking for,” Speight said. “As we grew and even though we’re a smaller company, we want to offer people the same types of benefits that they would have from a larger company.”

At Bennigan’s, all staffers who work more than 35 hours a week are offered health care benefits, Mangiamele said. The participation rate, however, is about 40 percent. Many restaurant workers are in their 20s, according to the industry.

“Most opt out because when you’re young, you don’t even think about ever being sick,” he said.

Given Tuesday’s announcement, Mangiamele said he’s hopeful that the delay would result in more changes that will not hurt small businesses.

“The delay, I think, is the prelude to a huge redefinition and perhaps retraction of some of the conditions of Obamacare,” he said.

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